Taxes and other Public Charges in the Jurisprudence of the Constitutional Tribunal: Some Current Trends

The article deals with the judicial decisions of the Constitutional Tribunal concerning taxes and other public burdens in 2009-2011. In this period, there was a particular intensification of judicial activity of the Tribunal, leading to both the development of a consistent line of its jurisprudence and establishing new rules and principles related - directly or indirectly - to public burdens, derived from the provisions of the Constitution. The first part of the article describes basic substantive principles (i.e. universality and equality) of taxation. Their constitutional status seems to be well-established, and the principles themselves form a permanent constitutional standard of Polish taxation solutions. Another important aspect of the Tribunal's jurisprudence subjected to analysis, are the substantive rules governing imposition of burdens, making up the widely understood principles of good legislation. The Tribunal's judgments allow us to make some propositions concerning the principles of interpreting legislation on public burdens, and, particularly, prohibition against widening interpretation. In the second part of the article the author examines the current content of the principle of exclusive competence of the legislator, as well as the formal requirements resulting from it that must be fulfilled by tax regulations. The article also contains an extensive review of Tribunal jurisprudence concerning constitutional complaints. Moreover, the author makes an attempt to determine whether it is possible to apply this instrument for protection of rights and freedoms based on the subjective rights of taxpayer.